FSBO Commission(?) question (1%, negotiation, agent, fee)

[KoZmiC NinJa]

We FSBO'ed our house and had a lot of interest.
On about day 10 a realtor called us with an offer
from her buyer. The offer was an insulting low ball
offer....not even close to the comps in the area.
We decided, due to the urgency of our situation to
make a more realistic counter offer which the buyer
accepted. My wife was furious at the dealings leading
up to the counter offer. And, after talking to people in
the area, says we still accepted too low of an offer. I am
of the opinion that due to the urgency of our situation
and the market we did OK just to have this part of an
undesirable situtation taken care of. Leave it at that.
We are almost broke due to the situation that precipitates
the move and the move itself....My Wife says we FSBO'ed the
house for a reason and not to give the low-balling agent anything
as a 'tip'(?). I want to give her at least a gift certificate to a nice
restaurant but dont know if this will get into any ethical issues with
her home office. I cant give her even 1% at this point but I do
want to give her something. Is this not in bad taste and ethical
or she we just finish the deal as-is, cheepo style?

Thanks in advance !

[WendyK]

Are you sure the offer you accepted didn't have some type of commission payment to the Realtor? I can't believe the agent wouldn't have incorporated a fee for her services within the contract for her buyers.

[Lester1970]

Originally Posted by KoZmiC NinJa

We FSBO'ed our house and had a lot of interest.
On about day 10 a realtor called us with an offer
from her buyer. The offer was an insulting low ball
offer....not even close to the comps in the area.
We decided, due to the urgency of our situation to
make a more realistic counter offer which the buyer
accepted. My wife was furious at the dealings leading
up to the counter offer. And, after talking to people in
the area, says we still accepted too low of an offer. I am
of the opinion that due to the urgency of our situation
and the market we did OK just to have this part of an
undesirable situtation taken care of. Leave it at that.
We are almost broke due to the situation that precipitates
the move and the move itself....My Wife says we FSBO'ed the
house for a reason and not to give the low-balling agent anything
as a 'tip'(?). I want to give her at least a gift certificate to a nice
restaurant but dont know if this will get into any ethical issues with
her home office. I cant give her even 1% at this point but I do
want to give her something. Is this not in bad taste and ethical
or she we just finish the deal as-is, cheepo style?

Thanks in advance !

Hey. You're a very nice guy. I dont work up in Vermont, (although I would love it) but think perhaps what happened is that the buyer's agent (who was not representing you in this transaction) gave you a competitive offer for the home, but one which was the best possible price for his or her client. Was the home on the market for a long time? I think it is really great that you would like to do something for this agent, but that it is not necessary; especially if you were not in the end completely satisfied with the outcome of the deal. However, that being said, it is my experience that it is worth the commission to have someone represent your best interests in any marketplace and this may have ended up getting you a better offer via more exposure, etc.

People sometimes try to low-ball FSBOs for two reasons:

1. they feel that if you are avoiding paying a commission to an agent to represent you, then you would probably be willing to come down on the price.

and 2. limited negotiation strategy on the selling side, since there is no real access to a CMA tool aside from home price rating websites which are not at all accurate.

At any rate, I am nonetheless happy that the transaction went through and wish you guys the best of luck!

Lester

[KoZmiC NinJa]

Thank you very much for responses.
I know that her buyer is going to give her something
but the way I look at it is she did do something to help us out, too.
Despite some negativity when the deal came to fruition whe was
very nice and professional. She got her buyer a nice house and
we can go to our new area and not worry about the house stagnating
in an unpredictable market. Everybody 'won'(?)

Thanks again for responses !!

[south.charlotte&union]

Please also realize that as realtors we must present any offer our client wishes to make -- even if it is one dollar! We don't always agree with what our clients want to offer, but we need to present it anyway.

Glad things worked out for you -- best of luck!